Japanese Radiation Plume Heading For America?

1:00 PM EDT, March 17, 2011

The latest fear is that the radiation plume form Japan is coming our way while the Japanese nuclear reactors continue to pour radiation into the sky.

While experts battle to contain the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, a new forecast from the United Nations predict a radioactive plume from the stricken reactors could hit our shores within hours.

According to the new projection, the plume would reach Southern California by late Friday. It would then spread to Nevada, Utah, Arizona and possibly even further beyond, until it reaches the east coast.

A computer animation based on the UN forecast shows the projected path of the radioactive plume as it is blown across the Pacific across the California coast.

Environmental reporter Michael Collins is monitoring radiation levels around Santa Monica and has set up a live web stream of one of his devices. Click here to watch.

He also has a candy bowl filled with potassium iodide tablets to counter any potential radiation.

"This is not an event that is just going to happen and then go away. We don't know. It could go on for months," Collins said.

INSIDE EDITION spoke to Bill Nye the Science Guy about the new threat of the cloud coming our way.

"The amount of radiation that will hit here in the worst case will be less than a dental x-ray," he said.

Good Morning America's Sam Champion also had reassuring words about the plume hitting our shores: "Any radiation that hit us would be a thousand times less than what came out of Japan."

Meanwhile, in Tokyo, CNN's Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta revealed they are taking no chances. Their precautions include wearable radiation detectors.

Health experts in this America have said if radiation does reach the states, at this time they predict it would be small amounts unlikely to cause harm. Today the President spoke our to Quell fears saying there will not be any dangerous levels of radiation reaching American shores.